Beaverton School District leaders hoped to pull in $14 million from a local option levy to help with the district's projected $24 million to $37 million shortfall, but that won't happen after the community voted it down Tuesday night.

Fifty-four percent of the voters rejected the 5-year levy and supporters blamed the economy.

"I think we have to be careful not to take that as a sign that the community
doesn’t support its schools," said Karen Cunningham, school board member and levy organizer. "It’s just a sign of the bad economic times."

Holding the election shortly after tax bills arrived in the mail also caused some trepidation as residents questioned a school construction bond measure already among their taxes.

Beaverton School District Superintendent Jeff Rose joined supporters at a Beaverton restaurant to watch the returns come in and said the mood was somber.

"It puts us back in a place we were hoping we would not be," said Rose, in his first year as superintendent. "What we've described are
dramatic cuts and that’s if things hold steady. Obviously, this local option, if it was accepted by the public, it would have made a
dramatic difference."

The levy was to beused to preserve teaching jobs, academic programs and class sizes, but the district faces dozens of cuts and will start
preparing for them in January as the state predicts its funding level
for 2012-13.

Beaverton has a history of passing levies and bonds. Voters approved a levy in 2003 and a construction bond in 2006.

In May, Portland was the only school district out of 10 to pass a levy; those that failed included Oregon City and St. Helens, according to Oregon School Board Association data.